


Introduction to Post-Finality Studies

by Hart_of_Tree_Hill



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, New Relationship, Post-Season/Series 06, season 7
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-23 05:13:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30050421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hart_of_Tree_Hill/pseuds/Hart_of_Tree_Hill
Summary: Season 7 picking up directly after the summer following season 6. Follow our two idiots in love as they embark on a relationship and endure another year in the halls of Greendale. Jeff/Annie centric, however, all characters will be included eventually. Tags will be added as necessary.
Relationships: Annie Edison & Britta Perry, Annie Edison/Jeff Winger, Britta Perry & Jeff Winger
Comments: 2
Kudos: 41





	Introduction to Post-Finality Studies

**Author's Note:**

> Jeff picks Annie up at the airport as they attempt to define their relationship, Britta fights a losing battle with a messy apartment.

End of August, 2015

There was absolutely no reason for him to be as nervous as he was. 

Annie and he had spent plenty of summers apart before, their reunions were never anything particularly eventful. A quick exchange of “hellos” and a meaningful look was the formula that had held true for six years. 

Yet here he was, breaking that tried-and-true formula by picking her up at the airport. And he was nervous as hell. 

They had skyped and sent the occasional flirty text message, but both were always abundantly careful not to broach the topic of them. Neither brought up what happened in the study room that day. Neither brought up the dreaded question of “what are they?”. Neither brought up the few brief conversations they had attempted regarding this topic in the week before she left. Nothing.

This was very intentional too. 

He couldn’t be certain what her motivation was, but he could definitely venture a solid guess that it had to do with the last few times she had attempted such a conversation with him and had been humiliated. Oops. 

On his part, well it was pretty simple. Fear.

Not fear of actually being in a relationship with her, he had married her in his head at least six separate times over the summer (he’s not sure if his therapist would call this an improvement or a cry for help), but fear of how the conversation would go.

He’d envisioned this particular conversation dozens of times over the last six years. It’d gone pretty much every which way possible in his head, that he wasn’t sure which way was the most likely at this point. 

The vibration of his phone in his pocket jolted his nerves even further, with him visibly jumping as he felt the small pulse.

He visibly rolled his eyes as he saw the text come through from Britta.

Britta 7:26 pm

hey can you try to stall annie for at least another three hours? this is taking wayyy longer than i thought it would. turns out vomit doesn’t clean off of walls as easily as you’d think 

Jeff 7:26 pm

What am I supposed to do with Annie for three hours at 7:30 at night in Greendale? (Also, what the hell Britta?)

Britta 7:27 pm

idk just do something ffs!!! annie is gonna kill me if she gets home and sees this

Britta had pretty much destroyed apartment 303 over the summer with both Abed and Annie gone and nobody around to supervise her. He personally hadn’t been over there since he picked Abed and Annie up in the first place, so he wasn’t aware of just how bad it gotten.

Come to think of it, he hadn’t really spent much time with Britta in general this summer. Spending time doing things just the two of them only served as a reminder that what was once seven, was now down to two. It was pretty fucking depressing.

He had visited her while she was working, and they texted every now and then about this and that, but he honestly couldn’t tell you how Britta spent her summer. 

Well, he probably could have pieced it together after seeing the pictures that Britta had sent him when she was explaining why she couldn’t come with him to the airport. 

From the looks of it she had adopted at least two more cats, threw upward of ten parties that she hadn’t cleaned up after, and had gotten takeout almost every night from the few vegan places in Greendale based on the multitude of take-out containers he saw in the photo.

Annie would be pissed. Which is why Britta opted to panic clean a mess only suited for professional services and he was left picking up Annie alone.

What would have been just a friendly airport pickup by the remaining splinter of their study group had turned into a romantic airport reunion. 

He scanned the baggage claim entry impatiently, watching for a perky petite brunette who was far too excited to be in a place as dumpy as Greendale. Nobody matching that description in sight.

Had he gotten the time wrong? Was he even supposed to be the one picking her up? Did she see him and decide to hide until he left? Was he seriously having a mental breakdown in the airport?

He was taken out of mid-airport panic when he spotted a hand waving rapidly at him as Annie began to half-run towards him, a bright smile plastered on her face. 

An immediate calm washed over him. Despite the fact that the inevitable conversation was rapidly approaching, he felt amazingly more at ease. Somehow, she always had that effect on him.

The nerves and intrusive thoughts dissipated as she got closer, her infectious smile causing his own to grow. 

“Jeff!” Annie beamed up at him as she crashed into him, his arms instinctively wrapped around her with the same force. They stood there for several moments in a quiet embrace, the subtext lingering between them. 

After a moment she stepped back half a foot, straightening her backpack on her shoulders. She was as radiant and upbeat as ever, dressed casually in jeans and a Greendale hoodie (it might have been his hoodie, but commenting on that could make things take an awkward turn). He would never understand why she would advertise that she was from here, but apparently, she was proud.

He returned her affectionate stare, both silent for a moment as they locked eyes. Eventually he was broken out of his trance when a woman in a hurry bumped into him, effectively breaking their first trademark meaningful glance in months. He cleared his throat in an effort to distract from the awkwardness. “So, how was your flight?”

“It was good, long, but good. Just happy to be home.” She replied, her warm smile focused on him, until a look of remembrance crossed over her features. She seemed to be scanning around him looking for someone, a confused furrow appearing on her face. “Where’s Britta?” 

Oh yeah, Britta. Damn it, Britta. 

He half smiled and half grimaced as he tried to come up with an explanation that wouldn’t totally ruin the moment. For some reason he felt that ‘well last time I checked she was cleaning vomit off of a wall’ wouldn’t do. “She’s just doing some last-minute cleaning for you.” Understatement of the century.

“Aww, that’s so sweet!” She exclaimed, seemingly pleased with his explanation. Can he really be held responsible for this one? If she honestly believes that Britta would take it upon herself to do extra housework, then that’s on her.

He definitely would’ve told her the truth if it weren’t for how damn good it was to hear her signature ‘aww’ after three long months without it. Britta’s request to stall her for three hours didn’t seem so daunting all of a sudden. Though he doubted that three hours was even enough time to clean up Britta’s mess. 

“Do you wanna stop somewhere and get something to eat? I’m sure you’re just dying to tell me all about your internship and all of your awesome but confidential adventures with the FBI.” He glanced sideways at her with a smirk, a look he knew never failed to make her blush.

Although it did have its intended effect, evident by her gaze shifting downward and her hands moving to shyly tuck her hair behind her ears, a strange almost panicked look crossed her face briefly before she schooled it into an unconvincing smile. “I mean there isn’t really anything to tell, you know? I was in D.C. for three months and now I’m here, and I mean isn’t Greendale great? Like wow what a great great town.” Annie rambled, her voice getting higher in pitch with each word.

Definitely not the reaction he expected. He assumed that getting Annie to talk about her internship and all of the awesome experiences that she had with the FBI would take up at least an hour of the three that Britta assigned to him, apparently, he was wrong. 

Helping Britta avoid the wrath of her roommate had just moved very far down his to do list.

He narrowed his eyes at her, willing her to meet his gaze. “You okay there Annie?” he asked with an edge of suspicion hanging onto his voice. 

Dutifully, though in betrayal to her, big doe eyes meet his imploring charismatic ones causing her phony cheerful façade to briefly break. “I’m fine!” She replied sharply, before reverting to a more natural demeanor. “I mean I’d love to, but ya know it’s totally top secret. Besides I’m really not that hungry, I just want to get home.” She said walking a few paces ahead of him, her expression disappearing from view.

Nodding in apparent acceptance, he grabbed her suitcase from her, wheeling it towards the exit. This was absolutely not over. He wasn’t sure what she could possibly be hiding from him, but that only made it all the more intriguing.  
….  
Britta scanned the apartment miserably. 

She had been cleaning for at least five hours at this point (ok maybe there were some breaks in there) and this place still wasn’t up to Annie standards. Hell, it wasn’t even up to Troy or Abed standards.

An involuntary gagging noise escaped her as she carefully discarded a neon pink lace bra that was definitely not hers. Unfortunately, that was just one in a long line of undergarments she had discarded since her cleaning endeavors began.

If pressed she definitely could not assign an owner to any of these lost garments. 

So far, she had managed to clean projectile vomit off of one wall (for her own sanity she’s gonna pretend that was from last night’s party, and that she hasn’t been living with it all summer), extracted foreign objects from the couch, and cleared the room of takeout boxes.

Unfortunately, that didn’t even begin to scratch the surface.

“Oh, fuck me.” She grumbled to herself as she carefully peeled off her rubber gloves.

She was hopeful that Winger could hold up his end of the deal. All he had to do was distract Annie for a bit by whatever means necessary (means of which she did not want to know).

The moron had been moping around all summer about her so she figured it wouldn’t be too hard for him to occupy his time. Then again, he was a moron and there was about a fifty percent chance he would say something to infuriate Annie, causing her to storm in here mid clean up.

That actually had potential, so long as Jeff pissed her off enough to distract from the pit of Britta’s partying filth. 

She took another scan around, taking note of the mysterious puddle in the kitchen, stains on the couch, and trails of liquor receptacles making paths throughout the apartment. 

Yeah, she didn’t stand a chance. 

She pulled out her phone, beginning to make a call.

It counted as an emergency if Annie was sure to kill her right?

On the third ring the person on the other end picked up.

“Hello?”

“Hey Frankie,” she started cheerfully, a tint of fatigue and nervousness attached to her voice. “how’s it goin’…girl?” She finished, cringing at her awkwardness. She never had quite figured out how to speak casually with Frankie, or even have a full conversation at all with her.

After a slight pause, likely Frankie trying to figure out how to respond to Britta’s out of character peppiness and odd term of endearment. “I’m fine girl, and yourself?”

“Yeah, not so great, you see someone through a party, or like twelve, in our apartment over the summer.” 

“By someone are you implying that you have an unknown individual living with you and thus need immediate assistance from law enforcement or are you coyly referring to yourself in the third person?” Frankie asked, her tone not giving away which option she felt was more likely.

Britta squeezed her eyes shut. “Well, I’m tempted to say the first option, but I have a feeling that won’t actually help me.” She sighed loudly in frustration, “Look cards on the table, the apartment is a disaster, Annie is gonna be home somewhere between thirty minutes and three hours from now depending on how much game Jeff has, and if it’s not clean I’m actually going to die.”

“Ok, I’m not sure what Jeff has to do with this, but wasting your time talking on the phone with me seems counterproductive.”

“Well, I was hoping you might come help me?” 

“Britta,” Frankie began evenly, “I gave you and everyone else in the group the specific instruction not to call me unless it was a Greendale related emergency.” She sighed loudly, “God first the dean getting locked in his bathroom and now this.” She trailed off exasperated.

Britta, seeming to ignore that last anecdote continued, “If urine on the walls isn’t an emergency then I don’t know what is!” She exclaimed only to hear a faint beeping indicating that the call had ended. 

Ok Plan B, she thought as she began dialing another number.  
….  
Once they were both settled in his Lexus, he used the confined space to his advantage. Time to channel his inner lawyer. “So, you really don’t want to talk about how your summer was?” he asked a few minutes into the drive, glancing at her out of the corner of his eyes. 

She shrugged, gaze staying forward, intentionally not meeting his own. “There really isn’t much to say. I mean of course I learned a lot, but I was just an intern, my job was mostly paperwork.”

He cocked an eyebrow, “But you love paperwork.” He said, far more accusatorily than he meant.

She shrugged, her body staying angled forward but becoming more tense. “Well of course, but it isn’t exactly a great conversation piece Jeff.”

She was definitely stubborn, but thankfully, so was he.

“Ok got it, boring paperwork.” He needed something edgier, something with more substance that would give something away. “What about the social scene? I mean I know it was no Greendale but I’m sure you made some friends.”

Her posture somehow grew more rigid. Ah-ha, there’s something. 

She chances a glance over at him, her eyes narrowed clearly not pleased with his questioning. “Jeff I’m a very pleasant person to be around, of course I made friends.” She replied with a huff before continuing, “but if you were asking if I was out partying all the time the answer is no.”

Yeah, that definitely wasn’t what he was getting at. Sure, he found Annie to be fun and she had gotten better at goofing around, but he wasn’t exactly envisioning her getting wasted at a club every night. Hell, he’d expect her to have a one-night stand before-. Oh. Oh no.

Had she met someone? Of course, he knew it was a possibility, come on look at her. What heterosexual man wouldn’t want to go out with her? It’s not like they had even discussed the two of them as an item in any capacity prior to her leaving or while she was there, let alone exclusivity. 

He was spiraling and he knew it. The calm, charismatic, non-committal Jeff Winger had left the building and was left with a far more erratic one. One that had sabotaged potential romantic entanglements for Annie in the past. One that had attacked the study room table with an axe once upon a time. 

Any rational person would cut off their line of questioning here. Annie clearly doesn’t want to talk about it, if they just left it there, the topic would remain sufficiently vague at the term “friends”. 

But unfortunately, irrational Jeff is out to play tonight, and because apparently, he’s a masochist, he presses on. “Well why don’t you tell me about your friends then?”

Annie’s glare deepened. “What exactly are you trying to get at Jeff?”

The atmosphere had shifted into that of an intense courtroom questioning.

He shrugged innocently. “I don’t know Annie why don’t you tell me? I mean you’re clearly hiding something.” No reason not to be forthright in this stage of the interrogation, she was obviously onto him.

She dropped any remnants of her aloof and distant demeanor and turned in her seat to face him fully. “If you’re trying to ask me something Jeff then just say it.” She challenged, her tone abrupt.

Jeff scoffed, there was absolutely no way he was giving in that easily. “I’m just a friend imploring about your summer.” He lifted a hand off the steering wheel to gesture to her, “you’re the one who’s being all secretive.” 

“Since when is it a crime to have a little mystery? I have all sorts of friends that you don’t about Jeff.”

He was pretty sure that wasn’t true. If it was then why the hell would she have spent as much time with Chang and the Dean as she did this last year? “Oh please” he scoffed. “Look Annie, if you want me to shut up then just tell me literally anything about your stupid internship.” Anything would give him sufficient material to obsess and speculate over tonight, since apparently that’s what he does now. It would also give him time to regroup and of a better strategy to get it out of her.

She shrieked indignantly, “Oh so now my internship is stupid?”

He rolled his eyes, she seriously thought she would be able to turn this on him? “Oh come on, that’s obviously not what I meant.”

“Why do you care so much about my stupid internship anyway?” Her eyes narrowed, as if piecing something together, “In fact if I didn’t know any better, I would say that you’re the one who’s hiding something. What did you do this summer Jeff?” She asked smugly, crossing her arms over her chest.

Drink scotch, think about you, show videos in summer school, think about you, drink more scotch, and think about you. Definitely won’t be admitting that though.

“Not much, just taught summer school.” He replied nonchalantly with a shrug. Okay, perhaps the word ‘taught’ was being generous, but he wasn’t about to give her a way out of this conversation by lecturing him. 

Besides, it was so blatantly obvious what she was getting at here, it was the same thing he was.

She scoffed, arms still firmly crossed. “Oh please, you’re telling me that the only thing you did this summer was ‘teach’” she raised an accusatory finger at him, “we both know that your form of teaching is showing Planet Earth, which doesn’t even have anything to do with the law by the way.”

Okay yeah, she had a point. 

“That’s subjective.”

She groaned. “Ugh Jeff, this conversation is pointless,” she said throwing her hands up in exasperation, “we’re both clearly getting at the same thing.”

She had always been the one to take initiative. 

Her expression was unreadable, a rarity for Annie.  
This was it. This was the dreaded conversation that would no doubt lead to disaster. Feeling all of his previous confidence and bravado drain, he played dumb. “What would that be?” 

Her face turned cold, almost pained. “Jeff, I need you to meet me halfway here. We haven’t talked about this once since I left.” 

This. A neutral stand-in word for a topic that was so obvious. 

She looked tired, possibly from her long flight, but probably more so due to him.

Every other time anything had happened between them she had initiated it with about a five percent success rate. It was unspoken that this time it had to be him. 

He let out a long sigh, head leaning on the steering wheel, both as a source of comfort and a way to avoid her gaze. “Did you meet a guy?” He asked in a muffled voice. A far cry from his usual charisma.

Ok not exactly the way he wanted to get the information. He had hoped he would be a little cooler about it, using some of his lawyer tactics and instrumentally drawing it out of her, but he was smart enough to know it was now or never.

He chanced a look at her, expecting to see her fuming. To his great surprise though, her expression was very soft and almost surprised.

“Did I meet a guy?” She repeated back in amusement, a small smile present on her face.

“Ok yeah that was really lame.” He conceded with a groan.

She giggled, reaching a hand over to rest on his arm. “Yeah, it was.” He looked at her, returning her smile and laughing himself. Somehow, she just made everything seem okay. “But to answer your question, no I did not meet a guy.” She responded, mocking his phrasing in a distorted voice.

Well, that was a relief. Sort of. If it wasn’t that, then what the hell was she hiding? 

Jeff sighed in frustration. “Okay I don’t get it then, why were you being so secretive?”

Annie’s eyes averted downward again. “Ok, I mean I didn’t meet a guy in the sense that I have any feelings for someone else or anything.” 

He felt a jolt of happiness at her phrasing someone else, a brief feeling of happiness that was quickly replaced with confusion.

He took in her face, eyes clamped shut, clearly building up her bravery to say something. “I kissed someone!” She blurted out, face turning to meet his confused one. She shook her head, correcting herself. “I mean someone kissed me, but it takes two to tango and all that.” She began to ramble, causing a small smirk to form on his face. “It doesn’t really matter, the point is that I kissed someone that wasn’t you and I feel terrible.”

A small, albeit irrational, part of him feels intense jealousy. He’s not proud of the strong urge he feels to punch a faceless stranger, but it definitely exists.

The rest of him is a weird combination of relieved, amused, and touched. 

This time it’s his hand that finds its way to her, taking her hand in his. “Annie, look at me.” He urges gently, her worried big eyes meeting his tentatively. “It’s okay.”

Her brow furrows. “It’s okay?” She repeats questioningly, shaking her head as if he hasn’t fully comprehended her story. “Jeff, I kissed someone, someone that is not you, didn’t tell you about it, and it’s okay?”

Admittedly, that masochistic part of him will probably ask her for more details later, but the fact that she was so worried and keeps referring to the mystery jackass as “someone who isn’t him” makes it okay.

He chuckles, feeling his usual confidence and charisma beginning to resurface. “We didn’t exactly have a conversation about this before you left, which is more than a little bit my fault.”

Her shoulders visibly relax, as she glances at him tentatively, his hand still grasped in hers. “So, what now?”

He’s about to answer until he realizes that he has arrived at her apartment complex. He looks at the clock on his dashboard reading 8:02 pm. No way in hell Britta has made that place livable for a human being yet. His mouth forms a tight smile. “Now, you need to brace yourself for what you’re about to see in that apartment.”

….  
He prepped Annie as well as he could for what was going on in apartment 303, but he didn’t want her to direct the rage at him. Also, he wasn’t exactly sure what was going on in there.

“I don’t understand, why is Britta scrubbing the walls?” She asked shaking her head, voice laced with confusion.

They walked up the stairs with his arm draped around her shoulders, both a form of testing these uncharted waters and a form of comforting her. 

“Yeah, I can’t really give a reason why and I’m afraid that if I tell you what she’s scraping, you’ll pass out on the stairs.” 

Her expression only became more horrified. “Britta’s just one person, how did this happen.”

He didn’t have a good answer for that, except that maybe Britta had been spiraling a bit this summer too.

Eventually they arrived at the door, Jeff gave Annie an encouraging smile that he knew would do very little, before she summoned the strength to open the door.

Immediately upon opening the door he was met with a smell that made him literally want to vomit. He tried to suppress the gagging for Annie’s sake, but based on her face, she was right there with him. 

They were greeted with Britta sitting cross-legged on the floor on the phone in an intense conversation with some unlucky bastard on the other end, apparently the dean.

“Look dean, I am asking you, my friend, for help – well no you weren’t the first person I called but -.” Her conversation abruptly ended upon seeing the pair standing in the doorway with horrified expressions.

It was way worse than he could have even imagined. Every surface possible was stained with god only knows what. He spotted a trash bag filled with undergarments that he was sure did not belong to either Britta or Annie. Various liquor bottles and plastic cups were everywhere, and the door to Annie’s room was shut tightly.

He glanced at Annie, trying to gauge the level of meltdown that was coming. On a scale of lost pen to running through a glass door, he was pretty sure it was closer to latter end of the scale.

“Oh my god, Britta!” She shrieked, her face only growing more disturbed as she took in a new element of the museum of Britta’s summer. 

Britta’s expression, absolutely terrified, shifted to a scowl as she looked at Jeff. “Seriously Jeff, you couldn’t even keep her out for an hour?” She hissed. 

“I don’t think any amount of time would’ve helped Britta. It’s time to burn it and get the insurance money.” He quipped as he felt the stench literally sting his eyes.

Annie walked in a little further, assessing the damage. “How did this happen?” She demanded near tears.

Britta tilted her head back and forth, considering the best way to answer such a question. “Uh well, I had some parties and didn’t have the time to clean it up, and honestly I don’t think you want me to go in detail beyond that.”

“What the hell is on the wall?” 

Britta’s eyes widened as she put her hands up in a placating manner. “Full disclosure, I don’t know.” She responded, which was only met with a shriek by Annie. “But if I had to venture a guess, either vomit or urine.” And a louder shriek.

His eyes darted to Annie’s room, hopeful that the door was shut in order to protect its pristine state, but he had a feeling that wasn’t the case. 

Annie, seemingly having the same idea ventured over to her door. “Britta,” she began slowly, in a disturbingly calm tone, “if I open this door, am I going to see any unidentified stains or smell anything that makes me want to vomit?”

Britta drew her lips inward. “I don’t think I can answer that in a way that won’t make you want to punch me in the face.” 

A strong scowl setting in on her face, Annie forcefully pushed the door open, gagging almost immediately.

A geriatric cat with one eye came trotting out, settling by Annie’s feet.

“How many cats are in here?”

“At least five.”

“What do you mean at least?” A rhetorical question clearly, since Annie didn’t wait for a response before continuing. “I can’t stay here Britta, I’ll probably pass out from toxic fumes. What am I supposed to do?”

Another rhetorical question probably, yet he found himself without thinking, providing an answer.

“You can stay at my place.” 

He couldn’t tell you why he offered such a solution. If pressed he would probably say it was to prevent Annie from killing Britta. In reality, perhaps a part of him was ready to test out the uncharted waters further. Maybe even have the conversation.

Annie clearly just as surprised, met his suggestion with disbelief. “Really?”

Britta clapped her hands together enthusiastically, not even bothering to remark on how transparent he was being. “I think that’s a great idea! It’ll give you guys a chance to really catch up, especially since someone doesn’t understand what three hours means.” She gritted out at him.

Annie appeared to be unsure of such a suggestion. Probably either because she doubted Britta’s ability to clean up without supervision or because she doubted his ability to have a mature conversation. Or both.

He wasn’t about to back out now though. He had never made it this far beyond his confession of feelings to her in the study room. To be fair, he had convinced himself that he would never see her again so that may have contributed.

“I insist, I can’t in good conscience leave you here.” He replied, grimacing at the state of the place for Britta’s benefit one last time, before giving a meaningful glance to Annie. 

He was sure. He was ready.

Understanding his glance, a smile formed on Annie’s face for the first time since she entered the apartment. “Ok then I guess, just for tonight, I’ll stay at Jeff’s place.” she said smiling fondly at him. “And you,” her smile turning to a stern glare as she pointed at Britta, “will have this place cleaned up by noon tomorrow. Got it?” 

Britta, fear evident in her eyes, nodded affirmatively.

He guided Annie towards the door before she could discover what other horrors lay beyond the doors, taking her hand in his.

….  
The drive to his place was mostly silent. A remark here and there about the music or traffic. Annie lamenting every so often about Britta.

He found it oddly comforting that she was so silent. Normally she would be chatting nonstop about the scene she had just witnessed. But the fact that she didn’t? That meant she was just as nervous as he was.

It took a few moments after entering the apartment for any conversation to be initiated. It was only once the topic of sleeping arrangements had been brought up that the inevitable was set in motion. 

“So, should I just set myself up on the couch?” She asked innocently.

Truthfully, he wasn’t sure what the correct response here was. Of course, she wouldn’t be sleeping on the couch, that was ridiculous.

Did she want him to offer to take the couch? Also ridiculous given his size, but the only other option was a bit presumptuous. 

He felt his face contort every which way as he attempted to form an answer. “Um, I mean you can sleep in my bed.” Vague, but not presumptuous.

She nodded apparently pleased. “And you’ll sleep?”

Crap. He scratched his neck nervously. Where the hell did all of these new nervous ticks come from? “I mean my bed is big enough for two people, so I could just sleep there also if that’s okay.

Way to make it sound like a slumber party, Winger, he thought to himself sardonically. He could not have possibly worded that anymore awkwardly if tried.

What the hell was wrong with him tonight? First the nerves at the airport and now he’s unable to form a sentence that would actually come out of a human being? 

He’s Jeff Winger for fucks sake. The king of speeches so eloquent that they have been affectionately named after him among his friends.

She chuckles and then puts her hands up. “Okay this is stupid.” He’s broken out of his self-deprecating internal monologue as he realizes she’s speaking. “Jeff, I think we should talk.”

Oh fuck, here it goes. He braces himself for the inevitable panic and anxiety that should begin coursing through his veins. But it never comes. He feels excited, almost giddy.

He schools his face into a neutral expression, a slight smile on his face as he guides her to the couch.

It’s not lost on him that he didn’t even initiate this conversation either. If there was a time for a Winger speech it would be now, and yet, what comes out of his mouth is not a carefully formulated monologue, but rather just the truth.

She looks like she’s about to speak, obviously not expecting him to make the first move now of all times, but he’s always been able to surprise her.

“Look Annie,” he begins cutting off whatever she was about to say, a pleasantly surprised but scared expression coming on to her face, “I think I’ve made it pretty obvious that this whole thing makes me nervous as hell.” he glances at her face and is met with an encouraging smile as she takes his hand the same as he had done back in the car. “But it also makes me more excited than I can ever remember being. I spent the whole summer running through every possible scenario in my head for how this could turn out, and most of them ended pretty badly.” He grimaces thinking of the many times he had gotten rejected or dumped in his mind over the summer.

“Jeff-.” She begins, afraid of where his speech is going.

“No let me finish.” He cuts her off gently. “Running through scenarios is more Abed’s thing and let me tell you it was a lot of work. But I think I’m actually ready to find out how this whole thing plays out.” He looks at her earnestly, gripping her hand tightly.

Her smile grows. “I’d like to see how it plays out too.”

This first part already went way better than it ever had in his head.

He finds himself instinctively lunging forward, capturing her in a deep kiss which she happily returns. 

The moment continues for a while, several minutes, an hour, he really couldn’t tell you.

He’s embarrassed about how giddy he feels when they do finally pull back and she’s looking at him with what he wants to believe is love. 

They’re lost in that moment for a while longer before her expression becomes perplexed, and he can’t help but feel panic. Does she already regret the whole thing?

“What’s wrong?” 

She shakes her head, trying to force a smile back to her face, though she’s failing miserably. “Nothing, it’s nothing.”

“Annie I just bared my soul to you, followed up with a hot make out session. If you don’t tell me what’s wrong, my mind is gonna draw some pretty bad conclusions.”

She sighs, keeping her eyes steady on her lap. “It’s just after our talk in the car where I told you about that thing-.”

He nods smirking slightly. “You mean your make out session with some D.C. douchebag?” He teases, both in an attempt to lighten the mood and to get out some of his stupid jealousy.

She gives him a pointed glare. “My brief kiss with a colleague over the summer.” she corrects before continuing. “I was just wondering, if you had anything of a similar nature to tell me?” she glances at him nervously, “Not that it would matter if you did, I was just curious.” She appends.

He would find her nervousness adorable if he weren’t about to tell her how absolutely lame his summer was. 

“Annie, my entire summer consisted of skype calls with you, drinking scotch, and quasi-teaching summer classes.” He isn’t about to include the ungodly amount of pining he did for her, though he’s pretty sure that’s implied.

She’s looking at him incredulously now. 

Probably not sensing any deception in voice but the story is just so lame that it can’t possibly be true. Not from Jeff Winger of all people.

Her jaw is practically agape for god sakes. He’s honestly a little insulted.

“Seriously that’s it?” She asks brow furrowed. “Not even a little flirtation with some girl at a bar? Nothing.”

He nods, keeping his glance down and smirking. “Honestly?” He prompts, glancing at her for a response, though he knows what it will be. “It wasn’t appealing.”

The words are simple, but the magnitude of the words isn’t.

Clearly, she realizes this too as she’s leaning forward once again. This time the kiss is a lot softer, but he’s absolutely sure that the emotion behind the kiss is love.

He’s not about to go there though. It’s implied for now, and enough romantic professions and confessions have happened tonight that he actually feels a little queasy from the adrenaline.

A couple hours later as they settle into bed, she begins speaking in a tone that’s innocent enough but clearly understands the implications of whatever she’s about to say. “So hypothetically speaking, since it is Britta, if the apartment still isn’t clean tomorrow, can I stay another night?”

He’s grateful for her indirectness. It makes this much less serious than it is, and she knows him well enough to know that he’s prone to panicking at this sort of thing.

He responds in kind, jokingly considering his answer. “I guess you can, but if after a week the apartment still isn’t clean, I’m gonna have to assume it’s all a plot.

He looks down at her smirking as she playfully swats his chest.

Out of all the potential outcomes he envisioned, he never imagined just pure contentment, and he’s pretty sure this is the best one of all.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Thank you so much for reading! This chapter was definitely more exposition rather than an episode, but the rest should follow more of an episode format! Also huge shout out to JeffPlusAnnie on instagram for their help in coming up with ideas and input on the story! They are seriously the best and post the most amazing analyses of Jeff/Annie scenes on insta if you want to check them out! Feel free to let me know if there is anything specific you'd like to see in our little "season 7" or just let me know what you thought in general!


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